What is an Internship?
Internships are becoming a necessary stage one goes through
in his or her journey to become a professional in their career.
At their best, internships create opportunities to network, provide
mentors, and present an environment for learning and growth.
They are entry-level work experiences that provide students,
recent graduates, and those seeking a career change with opportunities
to gain experience in a particular field. For recent graduates
or individuals considering a career change an internship is a
way to try a new job without making a permanent commitment. For
students, internships also supplement academic classes and, in
some cases, earn university credit.
Renny Mackay, a graduate
from the Missouri School of Journalism, has had extensive intern
experience with college radio stations
in both the United States and Canada. These experiences led him
to a three- month internship in New York City at WBAI radio as
a reporter in the news department. He also lucked out on a two-year
internship position at a big radio corporation in Missouri that
eventually led to a full-time job.
“
When you know what field you want to work in then an internship
is the way to break into the job market,” says Mackay. “I
would not be where I am today if I had not gotten all the internships
I did. When it came time to go after the job I'm in now I needed
to have two years of experience in broadcasting. I could count
all my internships, without which I would still be working today
to get those two years of experience.”
Goals that Internships May Satisfy
Internships provide job seekers with practical experience and the application
of theoretical knowledge in their chosen field. Often, they develop a relationship
with a mentor and cultivate a vast network of contacts. They teach career-related
skills such as decision-making and working with others. An internship on
one’s resume enhances his or her marketability and shows to future
employers that they are both an experienced and skilled worker in their
field.
Another aspect of internships is the opportunity they provide for job seekers
to know themselves better and to discover whether the job of their dreams
is actually what they want to be doing. This is a valuable and timesaving
experience, especially for students with no direct job experience in their
field of study.
Archie MacLean holds a Bachelor of Science from the University of Victoria
and is an alumnus of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.
His diverse internship experiences include being a student researcher at
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, an environmental health policy analyst
at Health Canada and a research assistant for an expedition to the Antarctic
at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.
“My internships allowed me to really know what it’s like to
work in my field,” MacLean states. “I found that although I
loved science and loved biology, it just wasn’t going to sustain me
for my whole career. So I switched. If I hadn’t done those jobs, my
only experiences would have been academic, which is often far removed from
real work. ”
Choosing the Right Internship
Internships can be competitive and the recruitment process requires as much
tenacious planning as a regular job search. Finding the right one requires
patience, research, a plan of action and sometimes, just plain luck.
For Mackay, persistence and a good sense of humor helped him land many
of his internship positions. “The internship at the corporation in
Missouri was a lot of good fortune,” he says. “At the interview
I cracked a joke that my future bosses enjoyed and so they hired me. At
that point I really did not have the background to get the job, but they
were looking for someone who could learn and was enthusiastic, which I think
are often the most important traits you need to get an internship.”
One of the benefits to internships is that even if a company does not have
an intern position already implemented, the opportunity for job seekers
to create a place for themselves as an intern within his or her desired
company often does exist. It requires creativity and planning on their part
to assess where they might be needed and how they will manage to find funding
if the company agrees to their proposal but does not have much money to
put into it.
The offers of either unpaid or low-pay internships create financial obstacles
that can certainly be a deterrent to applicants. However, many people pass
on these internships without researching other options such as grants, financial
aid or loans, and miss an experience that can lead to bigger and better
opportunities.
Generally, internships range from a monthly stipend (which can be as low
as $300 and as high as $2500) to no pay.
“Personally I think I just got very lucky,” says Mackay. “I
had to have a car for my internship in Missouri, and my grandfather happened
to have an extra car that he gave me. Also, in New York City I could afford
not to get paid because my family could support me a little bit.”
MacLean was paid at all of his internships, but does admit this is his
biggest criticism of them. “I think it’s horrible for companies
to exploit young people just because they’re eager. It also skews
your workforce in a way that is totally unacceptable. For example, Harper’s
magazine here in New York offers an unpaid summer internship. Great. But
who can afford to live without income in New York?” Says MacLean. “The
problem for a magazine, and for any company, is that you’re hiring
people from the same socioeconomic class, which can really limit the thinking
and creativity of your work force. ”
The Employers’ Perspective
Internships benefit employers for a number of different reasons:
They are
an effective way for companies to find energetic, highly motivated
employees who undergo the specific training provided by the company
and can potentially become competent full-time employees. In this
way, internships are cost-effective means that companies can utilize
for recruitment. They
can also create the opportunity for the enhancement of the company’s
image when internship students share their experience with others.
Internships also fulfill a societal need to help young people gain important
skills
and develop leadership roles.
“It’s always best when the employer looks at an internship
as a teaching opportunity,” says MacLean. “I had a boss at Health
Canada who really wanted to teach me things. He would take me to important
meetings so I could have the experience of seeing what went on at higher
levels in the ministry. He would introduce me to different people, send
me to conferences and teach me what he had learned in his career. I would
encourage anyone hiring an intern to really think about why they are doing
it. Is it for cheap labor? Or is it to offer guidance and knowledge to an
eager student just beginning his career? I think the latter is far more
important. ”
Part two of this series will take an indepth look at how companies can
benefit from internships.
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